


What's Left of Me

by Ametista



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-23
Updated: 2014-01-23
Packaged: 2018-01-09 17:58:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1149087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ametista/pseuds/Ametista
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We were given two hands to hold, two legs to walk, two eyes to see, two ears to listen...but why only one heart? It’s because the other was given to someone else for us to find.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's Left of Me

Soulmates. People of our society typically define the term in one of two ways: a useless ideal for those desperate to find never-endingly passionate love, or two souls that are bound to unite as one whole under the promise of true love. Either way, neither side has proved that such a miraculous ideal does or does not exist. One would have to simultaneously prove, or disprove, the existence of just as outlandish ideals, such as magic, fate and downright miracles, while doing so, and not a single human of our world has ever officially had the power, or the technology, to reach into something that is generally regarded as something far too unbelievable that it must be myth. Unfortunately, this world does not currently supply us with the means to delve beyond our physical bodies and into the spiritual plane of our existence, where you’d imagine such things as our souls must naturally reside, if they reside anywhere at all. Whether that results from total non-existence of understanding beyond the realm we have all come to know, or from a lack of faith and drive for further self-discovery, is totally up to the individual. It is a question that will either prove its own answer, or will simply remain unanswered until, and far beyond, our dying days.

However, such an endless and, for some, seemingly nonsensical cycle, is the circumstance of only one type of world. In a world far beyond this one, where that which we regard as magical and typically downright impossible is a part of every-day life, the idea of soulmates is not such a frustratingly unsolved riddle.

In fact, it is more than far from it.

In this world, a new age has only recently begun. The late Gol D. Roger, more famously known as ‘Gold Roger, the Pirate King’, sent endless streams of faithful believers to the seas in pursuit of his now vacant title and his treasure that, as he himself proclaimed, currently belonged all in one place. This apparently insurmountable amount of treasure was officially named the ‘One Piece’.

Unfortunately, such desire for what many believed to be the ultimate fame and fortune, lead many of these ‘faithful believers’ away from a life of endless freedom and unlimited dreaming, and towards the kinds of darkness that threatened to swallow even their own shadows. Some became drunk on their freedom and the power it provided them, and deluded themselves into endless streams of self-grandeur that would only lead them to foul and underhanded attempts at stealing even more power from those that opposed their reign. Some would find far too much enjoyment in the lawless side of their endeavour and seek to further lose themselves into increasingly violent ways. Whatever it may be that lead them astray from the destiny of one that belongs only to the sea and the endless adventures it provides, the rapid increase in such atrocities quickly became the perfect excuse for the World Government to label such inconveniences as nothing short of this world’s most wanted criminals. New wanted posters continually appear across all corners of the lands and seas, branding these people as being dangerous enough that they are to be wanted whichever way they can be captured, whether that be alive or very much dead. Bounties became a rapidly devised incentive to push the loyal citizens towards pursuing these criminals in even bigger, and therefore more useful, quantities. Whether you intend to harm others or not, the fact that you have the audacity to stand against the government and call yourself a pirate automatically labels you as a wanted criminal.

Ever since such developments occurred, this world has been in a constant struggle between the official governors of the people and their loyal sea dogs, and the pirates that continually operate beyond their treasured laws. It hangs on the very brink of balance between two such great powers, where even the smallest tip towards either side could lead towards a new and even greater age that could lean in either side’s favour, or perhaps no one’s favour at all.

However, that only describes the more political aspect of things. We were discussing soulmates and such at the beginning of this, right? Yes, yes I believe we very much were.

Very well then. Onto the more...magical aspects of this world, I guess you could say. I believe I mentioned earlier that, in this world, there are things that exist that are deemed totally impossible in ours. Islands in the sky, a river that flows up instead of down, columns of water that travel kilometres into the sky, stiflingly hot weather one second and sub-zero temperatures the next, goldfish thousands of times the size of ours, sea monsters beyond your wildest imagination...the list continues endlessly. After all, it is a world totally separated from ours, so why shouldn’t such things be entirely within the realm of reason? Why should a world not at all related to ours be governed by the rules that dominate only our realm?

There are even people there that have been granted the ‘power of demons’ by eating a food called a ‘devil fruit’. This particular, miraculous fruit grants the user the power to obtain inhuman abilities from one of three different classes: paramecia (a power that can affect the body, manipulate the environment, or produce substances), zoan (allows the user to transform into another species and inter-species hybrid forms at will) and logia (allows the user to transform their body into a particular element). Unfortunately, abilities as powerful as these do not come without a form of payment, a way to keep the balance, if you will. Any and all people that obtain the power of a devil fruit lose any ability to swim, a dear cost if you are one that thrives on the sea more than anywhere else in the world.

This isn’t the only seemingly unusual ability, to us anyway, that people of this world can be granted, though. Haki is defined as a mysterious power that is found within every being of this world. Unfortunately, there are many that fail to even notice its existence or to awaken it, so it is classified as one of the more uncommon powers of this world. However, one that has been ‘chosen’ to be able to possess control over something that is almost like a sixth sense to its wielders, are able to use one or more of three classes of such a power. Kenbushoku Haki allows the user to ‘sense’ the world around them and grants them limited precognitive abilities, Busoshoku Haki allows the user to use their spirit as armor to defend against attacks or to make their own attacks more potent and Haoshoku Haki, a rare type of Haki only one in a million can use, grants the user the ability to overpower the will of others.

So, if weather, land, creatures, power and much, much more that is totally beyond the means of our world can exist so casually, who is to say that soulmates is anything more ridiculous? After all, the spiritual plane of existence in this world has been proven through the occurrence of Haki, so it is completely reasonable that souls, and the dynamics between them that allow them to have ‘mates’, can exist alongside the physical world.

In this world, soulmates are defined very differently from the way they are in our world. After all, the fact that they have been proven to exist and are a part of these people’s every-day circumstances would have to mean that it would be so.

In this world, every single person has a soul that matches with one’s own. When one’s eyes meet those of their intended (decided by fate, destiny or shear miracles - such a thing is not yet known), an undeniable tug on one’s very being is acutely felt. A magnetism is instantly born that draws one soul to another and alerts them to the fact that this is the one; the one you have always been waiting for, whether you let yourself believe that or not.

Don’t get me wrong, they don’t just feel this connection and instantaneously fall madly and passionately in love with one another. Even in this world, every person has a right to fall in love the right way. Being soulmates only pushes them in the right direction, or perhaps more accurately launches them directly onto the right path. Either way, these people still have the responsibility to respond to this connection correctly and to pursue one another’s affections the same way that people of our world typically would as well. These people just have an edge on us by being able to know that this person standing before them is the one. It might sound totally unfair and incredibly ludicrous to many of us, but this is not our world and therefore we are at a disadvantage to understanding these people’s circumstances.

Anyhow, I’m sure you’re curious as to how exactly a bond like this works in such a world. As I stated previously, the actual connection is not discovered until you meet the eyes of your intended. The eyes are the windows to your soul after all, so it is only fitting that a bond between soulmates is made after such an event has occurred. From there, you instantly feel a bond between one another that, as it is a part of these people’s every-day circumstances, is recognised as the connection you, and all others of this world, were destined to feel. However you respond to this bond is completely up to the individual. You can even reject it and continue living your life alone, as morbid as that sounds. It’s not like you would die if they left or something like that. The bond doesn’t hold the power to change fate and death themselves.

Fortunately, most typically pursue the bond that has been presented to them, which is completely harmless and not as life-altering as many of the idealists in our world make it sound. You won’t die if they die, you won’t feel like your heart has been ripped out of your chest because you aren’t in the same place as they are and you certainly won’t turn into some love-obsessed psychopath that only desires to be in the arms of their soulmate and nothing else in the world matters anymore. Please, don’t be so dramatic. That is purely for the purposes of entertainment, while this bond that I speak of is the actual circumstance of an entirely different world.

Sure, there are certain connections between one another that are not found in one of our typical relationships. One another’s emotions, particularly strong ones, are shared between one another, including instinctively knowing when one’s partner is in danger. However, the detection of such a thing is heavily influenced by distance, which fortunately allows these bonded people to operate in a way where almost no difference is noticed when they are apart. Even when they are not apart, though, they will not double over in agony when their partner feels intensely angry or such, they will just feel a reasonably noticeable change in the feelings shared through their bond. On that note, when one is feeling unsettled or edgy, a touch from one’s soulmate can calm their minds to an extent. Even just a touch in general is noticeably soothing.

However, these are about as far as any unusual connections between the two extend. The rest is up to your approach towards your partner and typical human behaviour, just as it is in our world. You are still responsible for your own feelings and how you respond to one another - the bond does not deny you being your own person and how your emotions react in regards to one another.

Despite the fact that some of you may still think these unusual extra bonds between soulmates are nothing short of ludicrous, you must understand that these are in a response towards a connection forged between people’s very own souls. Surely you can’t expect something as significant as that to not have some side-effects, can you? After all, as I have previously reminded you, this is not our world and we therefore must take the workings of this world in a way that one might learn a new recipe: use your basic understanding of the concept, gather the new information and apply it to the circumstance and then proceed to create something that is hopefully up to standard.

Now, onto the age at which such a process occurs...Well, to be honest, there is no set age. One could meet an intended when they were eight or when they are sixty; it all just depends on your luck, I guess. It may sound unfair but, really, when has any world ever been completely fair? Like I stated before, people’s whole worlds don’t revolve around finding their soulmates, so everyone is more than capable of living a fulfilling life until the time comes. Unfortunately, there are those that have lost their soulmates before they have even met one another and therefore never discover such a connection, but people are strong and eventually find a way to move forward and still live a life worth living, just as we do when we mourn someone precious to us.

However, I’m sure that there are many of you still reeling about the fact that someone can meet their intended when they are still merely children. No, they are not expected to fall madly in love with one another and kiss and marry and all that when they haven’t even made their teenage years. Even the people of this world understand that there is something fundamentally wrong about that. They simply understand that they are one another’s intended partner and wait until they are ready to appropriately pursue one another on a level beyond just knowing that they are meant for each other. They may be people from another world, but they still understand the concepts of appropriateness, dignity and downright common sense. Besides, their parents, friends and community are more than capable of helping the young ones to understand the concepts of bonding and all it entails. Most of the younger kind simply befriend one another until they are of an appropriate age, anyhow.

I won’t deny, though, that there are conflicts that have arisen as a result of discovering one’s intended. Some cannot understand why a partner that, for whatever reason, does not initially appeal to them could possibly be the person that they were meant for. Some from nobility have parents that totally disapprove of their child being destined for a commoner. The list continues endlessly, but life is life whichever world you are in and it certainly is never perfect.

Which brings me to the purpose of the story I bring forth to you, the reason this long-winded explanation has been presented to you. By understanding the workings of this other world and, subsequently, the way that soulmates are capable of existing in it, I can now show you an example of such a bond. Like I have only just previously explained is entirely possible, conflicts initially arise as a result of an unforeseen complication that is difficult to resolve. However, being the match for one another’s souls, they’re sure to find their way along such treacherous seas.

After all, what good man of the sea could still call themselves a pirate if they could not, right?

**Author's Note:**

> So, basically that was an intro into how soulmates work in this AU and sort of how they can exist. I don't know when exactly the first official chapter will be up, but rest assured it is being worked on and will be up ASAP. Like I put in the tags, it'll work more like a series of one shots. Some might be directly relating to the events in others or perhaps even happen in a clear order, but there will be jumping around since I'll be going with whatever idea inspires me at the time. Also, I thought I'd better warn you before the next part comes out, though, that Luffy and Shanks will first be meeting when they do in canon and yes they will know one another is their soulmate. However, THEY WILL NOT BE DOING ANYTHING FREAKY. I've unfortunately stumbled across works before where people of inappropriate ages were doing...things...together and I assure you right now that I in no way intend to go down that sort of path. I simply wish to show how they met and that a connection has been forged between them. Not even a peck on the forehead will be happening until Luffy is at least 17 or older. The characters will also appropriately respond to such a predicament, considering the unusual and unexpected nature of it even occurring in the first place, but that will be further explained in the next part. If you still feel uncomfortable about going forward, I understand your concerns but please refrain from flames or from reading further. For others, I hope you enjoyed the idea of this story and were intrigued about the concept of soulmates in this world and ship Luffy and Shanks just as much as I do :) Until next time!


End file.
